As soon as landing areas had been secured, the Federal forces started heading to their next objective: the imperial palace. Under cover of heavy orbital bombardment, tanks and infantry moved forth, smashing aside any opposition they encountered. For the Battle of Aresia, the Federal command had decided to abandon all subtlety and smash the Imperial forces whenever they showed up. Accompanying the standard Federal troopers were specialists and tanks equipped for urban warfare. Heavily armoured T-180s with siege cannons could easily bury an entrenched enemy in rubble. While the main force advanced through the streets of Aresia, gravatroopers landed near the imperial palace, securing the path of the offensive. The enemy, even if he had been caught by surprise, was on his home ground, however. The legionaires defending their home planet were all experts in urban warfare, and they fought with fierce determination, killing many Federal soldiers.

The fighting got so savage in some areas that entire residential blocks were levelled. Lavish buildings were annihilated by orbital bombardments and thermobarics, and many civilians ended up caught in the crossfire.

And amidst the brutality of battle, a few hours after the first landings, the Federal force reached the outskirts of the Imperial Palace. As the first men and women of the Federation came into view of the palace's residents and defenders, a cataclysmic deluge immediately struck the great building from above. Orbital  and surface artillery, coupled with air strikes, battered the palace's shield for two hours as the Federals attempted to take down the force shield that protected the building from attack. When the shield finally flickered and failed, the area surrounding the palace was filled with craters. The gardens and squares surrounding the great building had all been wiped from the surface of the earth, leaving nothing but desolation. With the shield down, the Federal forces began firing directly at the palace. Tanks raised their guns and shelled the walls and roofs while infantry set up light artillery and joined the bombing. Within a few minutes, heavier ordnance sounded again, and shells came screaming through the heavens like thousands of doomsayers.